War Thunder Tank Beta Launches On PC, Planes On Euro PS4

War Thunder the free-to-play online combat game, has so far been all about conflict waged in the clear blue skies. Today, however Gaijin Entertainment has announced that the PC closed beta programs will be receiving a Ground Forces Expansion, introducing all sorts of tanks and armored vehicles to the fray. Oh, and, in case you’re gaming on a PS4 in Europe, War Thunder has finally launched for that platform, too.

Upon hearing about the Ground Forces Expansion for the PC version of War Thunder this morning, I got to thinking, “Hey, I wonder when that game is finally going to launch on the PlayStation 4?” Originally slated as a PS4 launch title, this latest in the growing line of free-to-play options on Sony’s new home console received a slight delay. A quick search on the internets and I discovered loads of tweets and forum posts stating that it actually arrived on European consoles this just a few days ago. I guess the U.S. got the PS4 a bit earlier than our friends across the pond, so it would be unfair of me to begrudge them earlier access to this particular game. But I’m an unfair kind of guy, so begrudge them I most certainly will.

The PS4 version of War Thunder currently only hosts the planes that have been available on the PC version of the game for the past several months. Tanks are being made available on the PC as of today and will eventually make their way to consoles. Finally, water vehicles will be the last to arrive at some point in the future, thus completing the game’s goal of bringing explosive combat to the air, ground and sea.

So now European PS4 owners can play War Thunder on their console and, over on the PC, soldiers can finally get rolling on the ground with big ole tanks. The initial rollout is restricted to players who took part in various special events throughout November, but other players can buy their way into an upcoming expansion of the beta with the purchase of various starter packs.

“Our ultimate goal is to have hundreds of thousands of individual games made up of dozens of players who can experience intense battles where they come from the skies, the land and eventually from the sea,” said Gaijin Entertainment CEO Anton Yudintsev. “The launch of Ground Forces Expansion closed beta is another step toward that goal.”

Unless I’m missing something here, these ground-based starter packs are a bit on the pricey side, ranging from 50 to 100 dollars. They each come with tanks that can only be accessed through said packs, a bunch of in-game currency, access to the closed beta later in December and, if you’re willing to pony up the extra cash, unique decals for your vehicles and titles. The game is otherwise free-to-play, so maybe this is a way for dedicated players to show some support to a game that they’ve been enjoying so far at zero charge. Buy these advanced packs and bone up on all things War Thunder at the official website.